MONDO GECKO

I had a fair amount of TMNT toys back in the day but I got rid of most of them. I wish I hadn’t but I did hold onto a couple of cool ones. I kept Leo and Donnie, Usagi Yojimbo the samurai rabbit and Mondo Gecko the skateboarding lizard. I suppose I held onto Gecko because he was a skater as I was back in the day and I just liked having a figure with a skateboard. Gecko was never one of my favorite characters or even toys but that accessory alone saved him from being sold for a quarter at some yard sale. I actually couldn’t find the skateboard when I pulled him out to take these pictures but I’m sure it’s around somewhere. The skateboard itself was actually kind of an asshole skateboard with a motor and big exhaust pipes on it that no true self respecting skater would ride. In a way the ridiculously oversized board reminded me of my first skateboard. You see when I was in grade nine and started hanging out with skater guys and decided it was something I wanted to get into I told my parents that I wanted a skateboard for Christmas. A complete board was expensive, nearly $200 and I was on a paperboy’s salary. My folks voiced their safety concerns and agreed to get me one so long as I promised to wear protective gear. Surprisingly they didn’t get me a helmet but they did buy me knee and elbow pads that Christmas. They weren’t bad looking (black and purple) and they might’ve looked alright had I been on a ramp or something but wearing them while just rolling back and forth on the driveway did not look very cool. The pads weren’t really the problem though, you should have seen the skateboard they bought me. I understand their reasoning for not wanting to go to the local skate shop (Proskates) and shell out $200 on a board until they were sure it was something I was gonna stick with, but I do wish they had maybe checked with me first before making their purchase. I ended up with a board from Canadian Tire which was so out of date and extremely uncool. In the early 90s skateboards looked like they do today: narrow, full grip tape, lips at both ends, cool. My board was super thick and wide, weighed a ton, had a back lip only and just two patches of grip tape: totally 80s. Plus it had bad graphics and a silly name written on it which escapes me now. I remember my best buddy Greg had a similar board that said Lizard King and mine was just as cheesy. However, what made my board so much worse than Greg’s and something I would never dare take with me to the schoolyard was the fact that it made noises. Yes, noises. There were two green plastic feet on the top of the board near the front grip tape that when pressed made different laser sounds from a big clunky box on the bottom. Said box also prevented me from attempting to do any sort of curb slides. This thing was an absolute nightmare for a young guy who was just months away from high school. Sorry mom, I know you meant well and I love you but that thing was brutal. Even Mondo Gecko wouldn’t be caught dead on that thing.

So yes, back to Mondo Gecko. He is a very 80s style skater himself. With the bright colors, the goofy hair, the stupid board and the horrible wardrobe you can tell that whoever designed him wasn’t well informed on contemporary skateboard culture. Based on 80s stereotypes Gecko was a cheesy throw back. The figure was decent though, at least as far as TMNT figures go. They all suffered from bad proportions and exaggerated expressions but they were fun to play with. 6 out of 10.

Baxter Stockman, Triceraton and Mondo Gecko were my favorite TMNT toys. I liked this guy so much that I always wanted to have braces just because of him. I can’t remember what made me like him so much, maybe the bright colours, at least that was the reason I liked Sewer Surf Michelangelo. Mondo Gecko deserves an 7.5 at least in my books.

I liked Baxter too. BeBop was another favorite. Mondo is alright but I don’t really remember him from the show. I didn’t have many turtles past the second wave but my lil bro Brian did. He had that Triceratops guy and a Manta ray dude who I liked as well.

I hated Mondo so much, and yeah, he reeked of uncool marketing types just throwing their unhip ideas together. I feel like Mondo came out at a time when the turtle sidekicks were getting more and more wackier, and the turtle figures themselves were becoming more gimmicky (dancing turtles, space turtles ect).

I believe this is the second time this years I’ve gotten into a bit of a discussion about the holdbacks of Mondo Gecko.

I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in finding Mondo Gecko kind of a douche. We can forgive Miguel for liking him because that crazy 80s glam skater fashion was just catching on down in Mexico when this figure came out so he thought it was cutting edge.

I wasn’t a fan of the TMNT toys but loved the show. The lack of articulation made them feel cheap to me so I just stuck with Joes. As far as Mondo goes though at least he was a skater even if a horribly outdated representation. Do like the braces though.

I love how they gave him braces when I clearly don’t remember him having them in the show (at least your picture above confirms that). Mondo was never a character I liked or a toy I had but I would like to someday get an Ace Duck, a Bebop & Rocksteady, a classic foot soldier, Shredder, and a Usagi Yojimbo again since I lost my entire lot of Turtle figures from my childhood.